Fuyuki Vs Karakura
by Alpine992
Summary: With the Winter War over, Ichigo faces a new challenge. What was suppose to be a Holy Grail War turns into a Greater Holy Grail War, fought between two factions. Faction A: Fuyuki City Faction B: Karakura Town. Coming to terms with the upcoming conflict, will Ichigo find allies among his chosen Faction or will he be forced to fight against both Faction A and B?


"_The fuck am I doing?"_ Ichigo pondered to himself as he dug his hands into his jacket pockets as a brisk chilly wind washed over him. The teen was currently standing on the riverbank, the site alone made his mood dampen, it was the same one where he had lost his mother. The fact that it was two in the morning didn't help things either as he stood looking up at the sky, a few dark clouds hanging about but not enough to block out the moon and the stars overhead. Despite the fact that winter was over, the start of spring still held it's chilly moments.

Glancing left and right the teen sighed to himself, his breath visible in the air as he shifted from foot to foot. Pulling his right hand from his pocket he glanced over the strange symbol that had appeared there that morning. At first it seemed mild before it grew as the day passed to what it was now, no larger than the back of his hand making a strange symbol of some kind. No amount of scrubbing got it off either, he had tried.

Glancing to his right, following the river in that direction, the moonlight reflecting off the water making it a little more visible in the darkness. Most of the street lights were off, only a few spotted around were still on but none in his vicinity. A shiver went up his spine causing him to shake slightly before placing his hand back in his jacket pocket pulling the jacket tighter over his back.

One might question Ichigo's motives for being out so late, especially on a school night. Hell he was beginning to question why the hell he was out here, but still he remained. If only to hear that damn shopkeeper out. Ichigo didn't know why Kisuke had contacted him out of the blue, not having heard from the former Shinigami since the loss of his powers several months ago. Then out of the blue he gets a message from Kisuke telling him to meet here at two o'clock in the morning. He better have a damn good reason.

He'd been leading a fairly normal life since Aizen was brought down and the War between Aizen and the Seritei had come to a conclusion. Sure it was somewhat difficult adjusting to no longer having the powers he once did and not seeing the familiar faces he had grown accustomed to popping up whenever they pleased, but he was making due. Hell he had even got back on track with his studies. So far, this had been the only kink in the chain of events.

Letting out another breath into the frosty air he heard the familiar click of geta sandals and looked over his shoulder to see Kisuke walking along the path and came to a stop at the top of the incline, obviously the man was in a gigai giving Ichigo the chance to actually see him. Hell, even Yoruichi was present sitting on Kisuke's shoulder. That just raised the question, when Yorucihi was in cat form, could all humans see her still? He wasn't too sure on that.

"Is that you down there Ichigo? What are you doing out so late?" Kisuke called down with a smile causing Ichigo's brow to twitch.

"Give me one good reason I don't come up there and kick your teeth in?" Ichigo growled as he turned and walked towards the bottom of the hill, looking up at the man who had taught him so much when he had been so ignorant.

"It's good to see you Ichigo." The masculine voice in her cat form called down to him.

"Can we get to the point already?" Ichigo asked, rolling his eyes forgoing pleasantries at the moment. "I have school in the morning." The familiar sound of Kisuke whipping out his fan reached the teen as he looked up to see the man hiding his face behind it. But Ichigo could tell, just by the eyes that bore down at him. The seriousness of whatever Kisuke was planning on telling him. Turning, the teen walked a small ways down the riverbed to where a set of stairs was, climbing them to see that Kisuke had made his way to meet him at the top.

Yoruichi leapt from Kisuke's shoulder to the ground and began to walk forward, Kisuke and Ichigo following after her. Neither of the two spoke as they followed after Yoruichi, Ichigo remaining silent knowing Kisuke would speak when he was ready. The teen could already feel it coming, Kisuke was going to ask him to do something and if he knew his teacher, it wasn't going to be anything safe, or normal. It was going to completely disrupt his relatively normal life.

"Spit it out already." Yoruichi spoke from ahead. "The more you remain quiet the less time we have."

"Ah, you just interrupted my train of thought Yoruichi, just when I was about to give an awe inspiring speech to our lovely student here." Ichigo rolled his eyes as the two bickered at one another but focused once things got quiet once again.

"Ichigo, can I see your hand?" Kisuke asked and by instinct alone, Ichigo already knew what he was talking about as he pulled out his right hand with the marks that had appeared on it earlier that morning. Kisuke's face betrayed no emotion upon inspecting it before he looked up into Ichigo's eyes.

"Want to explain to me what's going on?" Ichigo asked as Kisuke covered the mark with his hand before sighing and releasing it.

"I'm sorry Ichigo, but it looks as though you've already been chosen." Kisuke commented as they began to walk once more. "With your studies in history, you've no doubt come across terms such as the Holy Grail?" Ichigo blinked as he cast Kisuke a sidelong look.

"Ah... yeah, I've heard of it." Ichigo replied honestly, not having really expected such a question. Kisuke nodded softly before he continued.

"Now forget everything history tells you about it." Kisuke chuckled as Ichigo gave Kisuke a deadpan stare. "It's real, very real and very few know of its true purpose." Kisuke continued as they worked. "You've been able to see spirits since before you could even recognise the difference between them and the living, and only recently did you come to understand the broader spectrum."

"However, how large the spectrum was, you never really figured delved into." Yorucihi continued. "Tell us Ichigo, how much do you know about Quincy and their abilities?" She questioned without looking back at him.

"Stuff all really." Ichigo told her. "Something about them destroying souls instead of sending them onto soul society, something like that right?" He asked.

"Something like that." Kisuke nodded. "In broader terms, while Quincy abilities are spiritual in nature, that's not all they are." He added. "It's a mix of spirit and magic." Ichigo blinked, halting in his step before reaching up and pinching the bridge of his nose. Why was he surprised? He should expect the unexpected now.

"Quincy's over time, mixed their spiritual powers with magic, ending up with the Quincy powers you know today. It was several hundred years ago and not in any history books so I wouldn't feel discouraged." Kisuke smiled at him. "But magic is truly a source of power, natural to the Earth itself. Only a few select groups of people in the world truly know how to intune that power and keep it secret."

"The Quincy were the only ones to connect magic and reiatsu, which put them on Soul Society Radar." Yoruichi added. "What humans do with magic, has no effect on Soul Society, so they're free to do what they wish, within reason."

"I'm guessing someone's gone and messed that up, since you're talking to me about it."

"Very astute my young pupil." Kisuke commented flicking his fan shut and continuing to walk. "Usually, we would let the Clock Tower in London deal with the mess their magus have created, however this time it's a little more complicated than that." Ichigo saw where they were and had to wonder why Kisuke didn't just tell him to meet him at his shop, rather than go all the way to the river. "I'll put on some tea." Kisuke started heading inside first leaving Yoruichi and Ichigo outside for the moment.

"You can go home Ichigo." Yoruichi spoke up causing Ichigo to turn to her with a wide eyed expression. "You don't have to be dragged into this world again, it's vastly different from the world of spirits."

"If you had any other choice, why come to me at all?" Ichigo asked causing Yoruichi to look down, Ichigo turning and headed inside. Slipping his shoes off he headed through the store and into the back room of Kisuke's shop to see Kisuke already sitting down at the table. Taking a seat himself he nodded for Kisuke to continue.

"The mark on your hand is the sign of a Master." Kisuke told him. "You've been chosen to participate in a Holy Grail War." Ichigo glanced down at the mark on his hand, running his thumb over it.

"I'm going to need a little more information." Ichigo told him, getting a nod as Kisuke continued.

"The Holy Grail War is a competition that decides the ownership of the Holy Grail through intense battle royale. Generally speaking, it refers to seven Masters, usually proficient magus, summoning Servants, Heroic Spirits brought forth as familiars, and meeting in battle until only one pair is left to claim the Holy Grail."

"Generally speaking?" Ichigo questioned with a raised eyebrow. "What's different about this one?"

"For one, it's fifty years too early." Yoruichi commented. "It's supposed to happen every sixty years, yet the last one was only ten years ago."

"No doubt you've heard of the Fuyuki Fire ten years ago?" Kisuke asked, it took a moment for Ichigo to think but he finally clicked. A fire so large that it killed five hundred people and destroyed over one hundred buildings. "We're not privy to the information, but it appears something went wrong, causing not only the fire but also the time between the last Grail War and this one."

"That's not all." Yoruichi commented. "This Grail War is different, much different from the last Grail War." Kisuke nodded his head in agreement.

"Seven Masters. Seven Heroic Spirits." Kisuke spoke. "That's what it's supposed to be. However something has changed. This Grail War is larger than those of the past, now it has two sides opposing one another. Fourteen Masters and Fourteen Heroic Spirits." Kisuke continued as he poured tea for himself and Ichigo. "Usually this would only happen should seven Masters, along with their Servants form a union allowing for another seven Servants to be Summoned. An emergency system inbuilt into the Grail itself."

"What's odd is that no union has formed between the seven Masters." Yoruichi told them. "Nobody expected this to happen. On one hand their may not be any team fighting at all and might be a free for all between fourteen Summoners and their Servants. It'll be utter chaos."

"On the other, there might be seven servants waiting to ambush an unsuspecting Master." Kisuke said staring directly at Ichigo.

"So basically…" Ichigo sighed, ruffling his hair up as he set a glare on Kisuke. "You had me drag my ass out of bed at two in the freaking morning to play a goddamn Team Deathmatch against Wizards and whatever else?" Kisuke and Yoruichi blinked and glanced at one another before looking back at Ichigo. "Couldn't it have waited a few hours?"

"We figured if you agreed, we'd want you to start training. There is still a few weeks before the Grail War officially begins." Kisuke told him. "But, you give the word and we transfer the command seals to someone else." There was a tense silence that filled Kisuke's shop.

"What's the training?" Ichigo questioned, determination once more showing in his eyes that made both Kisuke and Yoruichi smile, knowing he had already set his resolve to go through with this.

"First things first." Kisuke smiled. "You should know, your mother was a Quincy."


End file.
